The invention concerns a combination cable and air channel for air conditioning an electrical enclosure, specifically a switch cabinet, and a corresponding switch cabinet.
DE 10 2009 054 011 B4 describes a switch cabinet with a wall element for the specific cooling of heat-producing components contained in the switch cabinet, wherein the wall element separates the interior space of the switch cabinet containing the heat-producing components from a cooling air space. In the cooling air space, air cooled by means of an air conditioner is provided for the cooling of the heat-producing components. The interior of the switch cabinet and the cooling air space are in fluidic connection by a plurality of passageways in the wall element, wherein cooled air from the cooling air space is led through the passageways into the interior of the switch cabinet. A similar switch cabinet is also described by DE 197 28 306 A1.
In switch cabinets of this kind, components which become heated on account of their dissipated power and which require cooling are often arranged on a mounting plate more or less in one plane above and next to each other. The switch cabinet familiar from the cited publication has a warm air outlet and a cold air inlet spaced apart from each other in the vertical direction for the cooling of the components. Through the warm air outlet, which is often situated in the upper region of the switch cabinet in the case of wall-mounted devices, warm air is carried away from the interior space of the switch cabinet, led through a heat exchanger of a cooling unit, where it is cooled, and blown as cold air through the cold air inlet, often situated in the lower region of the switch cabinet, into the switch cabinet.
Due to the relative arrangement between air inlet and air outlet, a temperature gradient from top to bottom is established in the interior space of the switch cabinet. The air blown in streams in the vertical direction from bottom to top, so that the lower situated components receive the flow of the coolest air, while components above them are in the flow of air already heated by the heat given off by the lower situated components. Furthermore, components situated further up on account of the vertical direction of air flow are in the leeward area of lower situated components, which further worsens the cooling of the higher situated components. Thus, it can occur that peak temperatures are reached in the upper region of the switch cabinet, which are higher than an upper limit temperature for the average switch cabinet temperature.
The above described temperature distribution inside the switch cabinet means that when installing the components it is necessary to arranged the more temperature sensitive components or those in greater need of cooling in the lower area of the switch cabinet, while less temperature sensitive components can also be arranged in the upper area of the switch cabinet. But this has the drawback that, first of all, the space available in the switch cabinet is often not used optimally, for example given the form factor of the components, and on the other hand it is sometimes necessary to provide extensive electrical wiring between components which, though electrically interconnected, are situated far apart. This not only impairs the clarity of the component layout, but also this wiring prevents the unhindered flow of cooling air onto the components.
DE 10 2009 054 011 B4 proposes a switch cabinet to solve this problem, in which the components being cooled are arranged on a support mechanism, having at its lower end a transition between the cold air pathway and the interior space of the switch cabinet, by which a majority of the cooled air provided in the cold air pathway is transported into the interior of the switch cabinet. Furthermore, a portion of the cooled air provided in the cold air pathway is taken through continuous openings in the mounting plate into the interior of the switch cabinet, such that certain components can be targeted according to their power dissipation. In this way, a more uniform temperature in the interior of the switch cabinet is also formed, instead of the above described temperature gradient in the vertical direction.
The solution known from DE 10 2009 054 011 B4 enables a greater degree of freedom in the arrangement of the components on the mounting plate thanks to the specific flow onto components in need of cooling, and this reduces the wiring expense. On the other hand, the familiar teaching provides no satisfactory cable management so that the flow can go unhindered to the components being cooled.